Chemical Engineering World

When I did my chemical engineering degree, I was not exposed to the engineering ethics. Now that I know the importance of engineering ethics, plus my quest to be a professional engineer, I'm progressively learning about engineering ethics. Learning from my own mentor (from IEM) is one way. Another way is to learn it from the book. However, I found it easier to learn the basics by watching video. I was searching about engineering ethic videos and found a set of fantastic video by Prof. Michael C. Loui. Though he is from the electrical engineering background, but the engineering ethics content is generally the same. The video is simple, easy to comprehend and I believe it can provide us good understanding on what is Engineering ethics.

Part 1: Engineering Ethics 101 - Professionalism

We need to really understand that engineering is a profession, and one way that professions distinguish themselves is by having and enforcing a code of ethics. The code of ethics are very important. Without it, engineers would not earn the respect like it earned today. Students and junior engineers need to be exposed with this. Check out the first video on Engineering Ethics 101 - Professionalism.

Part 2: Ethics & the Responsible Engineer

Taking responsibility for one's actions is an important part of being an engineer. In this video, Michael Loui reviews different types of responsibility and gives case examples from notable engineering failures.

Many engineering engagements are frought with conflicts of interest. This (3rd) video explains what they are, how they can be avoided, and how the can be dealt with when they cannot be avoided.

There are more videos, but lets digest the first 3 videos. I'll publish the other videos later.

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Check out this short but informative video. The video shares some good renewable energy project ideas that can be further explored, improved and developed. The project is carried out by students at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering to develop renewable energy projects for a summer course. The course, directed by Dr. Mahendra Sunkara, is the first project for the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship. Students were asked to develop systems using a variety of different backgrounds, from chemical engineering to physics.

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I still recall when I was a process engineer working in a refinery plant, there are some operator(s) working alone in a small plant and he sits in a small control room. Similar scenario for a boilerman who normally operates alone in the boiler house on his shifts. This is a normal situation in a small plant(s) and I sometimes imagine what happen if suddenly something happen to this fellows? If suddenly they are sick and/or get a heart attack, what will happen to the guy and the plant/boiler or other units he is operating? Who will know what is happening at that instant? The fact that nowadays, we can see healthy people suddenly collapse, higher percentage would be due to high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack which is occasionally due to bad eating habit and unhealthy lifestyle.

I have thought of a device, tool or alarm to alert somebody, possibly an senior technician, supervisor, engineer or manager whenever anything bad happens to their operator or boilerman. I surfed and searched the net and I found a website called Brickhouse Alert that provide a device that can alert the other party whenever anything (that they define) happen. A message or signal will be instantaneously be sent to the other party to inform on what has happen. The product can be installed at home and and has a Fall Detection detector that alerts 24/7 emergency personnel that something or a person have fallen. The person experiencing the emergency can even push a button and an emergency signal is sent.

On top of that, there is also a monitored smoke detector and a help button that if someone falls on the ground, they can smack it and will get help, medication reminders, inactivity detector and so much more. Smoke detector can off course detect fire before it become worse. Interestingly, as I browsed further in the web, I found out that the device is really cleaver. It can be programmed to detect "no movement" or "movement".

I guess that if this kind of product which is provided by BrickHouse Alert can be modified or suited for process plant or manufacturing industry application, it will be great. If I'm still a process engineer, I'll recommend such product to my company. Before I left my ex-company, an integrated computer system a.k.a a centralized control system was in progressed that can allow the engineers and managers to monitor all the production and utility data online. Those are made in concern of business but having a life alert will be display any company concern to their manpower. I also believe this product should be installed in offshore platforms / oil rigs where safety is extremely crucial for the staffs there.

I'm not sure of you but, though the product is mainly to cater for any situation in a house, I believe applying it in a more diverse industry and operation can be a huge success especially when valuing safety and profitability factor.

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There's undeniably a wide range of fields and discipline under chemical engineering. There are physical refining, research and development, plant processing, academician, safety and health, environmental and plenty others. All this expert area surely requires specific equipments, tools and gadget in order to run or operate the process.

One imperative equipment that chemical engineers working in the environmental fields and/or sales engineer require due to massive traveling is GPS which stands for Global Positioning System. GPS is space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth. It is with no doubt a very important equipment to locate or mark specific locations.

Personally, I also used a GPS to travel to certain unknown destination and also to marked important points of location. We (me and my wife) own 2 GPS presently, one is via her cell phone and the other one is a dedicated tough Garmin GPS for mountain hikers. For some, GPS might be an alien for you but you'll needed it very much, depending on your job scope. It will safe you a lot of hassle if you are traveling. To get a set of GPS, you can easily and efficiently browse at shopwiki. They provide massive range of GPS with various features and models. You can choose the GPS based on the types (hand held, car, cellphone, laptop, watch, nautical) or outdoor type (Garmin hand held personal navigator or Uniden 28 Mile GMRS Radio 2 Pack with Charging Cradle and Battery Packs) or special touch hand held GPS system.

In extreme conditions, when the basic seems simply inadequate, you can select for more advance GPS such as HP iPAQ rx5900 or Garmin Edge 350. Those two are example of very excellent, high end and advance GPS system. For example, GArmin Edge 350, not only can do what normal GPS can do but also amazingly can tracks heart rate, speed and other exercise features. This is a good choice for engineers to keep track of their health while working diligently.

In conclusion, I strongly think that GPS is a very excellent tool to ease our job but it also depends on our job nature. Those who do not frequently travel or have projects scattered in various location may not think this is a tool they need to own. It's up to you. For me, it has proven to be cost effective in the aspect of time saving and working efficiently.

The Author

I’m Zaki. I used to be a project, process and chemical engineer. Few years ago I successfully became a Chartered Engineer (IChemE) and Professional Engineer (BEM). I'm now employed as a chemical engineering educator/researcher/consultant. Hope you like reading my blog. I welcome any feedback from you. My email: zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. TQ!